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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24279640">The One I Need</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st'>belivaird_st</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Body Image, F/F, Female Friendship, Love/Hate, Older Woman/Younger Woman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:07:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>710</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24279640</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Coming home after a day of work, Therese feels uncomfortable in her own body.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carol Aird/Therese Belivet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The One I Need</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Don’t go near me. I smell,” Therese jerked her head away from Carol’s. Her hazel eyes lowered with shame.</p><p>Carol carefully reached over to pull back and tuck the young woman’s dark, wavy tresses behind her ear, whispering, </p><p>“That hasn’t stopped me before.”</p><p>“I’m going to run a bath.” Therese walked past Carol in a pair of black velvet kitten heel shoes. She began unbuttoning her cardigan down the carpet hallway and had disappeared to the last room on the left.</p><p>The door slammed shut in Carol’s face, without warning, making the blonde touch her collarbone with the tips of her fingers. Staring at the green chipped wood, she began to listen to water running inside their claw-foot tub. She could hear Therese sloshing, climbing in. </p><p>“Therese?” she called out. </p><p>“Yes...?”</p><p>“You never told me about your day and how well it went at work!”</p><p>“Oh, it was fine!”</p><p>“Good to know.” Carol smiled weakly to herself, sensing something wrong. She knew how quiet Therese could be, but tonight, something seemed off.</p><p>“Honey?”</p><p>“Hmm?”</p><p>“You can tell me anything!”</p><p>Then, a silence. More sloshing around. </p><p>Carol bit her lip and found herself grabbing the brass doorknob. Twisting it, she pushed all her weight against the wood and had let herself in.</p><p>Their small, studio bathroom was covered in steam. Carol felt like she was being smothered to death in a large, hot air blanket. It felt like she had just walked into a sauna. </p><p>Therese was crouched naked at one side of the tub and Carol could see the gold-trim white porcelain lever still switched on with the faucet pouring steamy, scalding hot water. Therese bowed her head down, letting her dark, wet hair hang over her face in thick, soaked chords.</p><p>“Therese! That’s too hot!” Carol moved blindly through the heavy dampness of fog to switch off the lever, hissing how painful the burning flesh of her wrist made contact with the water. She was trying to hold up Therese’s head, noticing how heavy it got.</p><p>“Why even bother looking at me? Is this what you asked for?!” Therese shouted, sounding hysterical. She tried reeling herself back with her hands held up in tight fists.</p><p>“Darling, please! I don’t know what you’re on about! Asking who, for what?”</p><p>Therese started rambling more to herself than to Carol, with her body shivering, skin covered in droplets of water.</p><p>“I’m so flat chested, I feel like a boy, sometimes! It’s disgusting! I’m disgusting! You need somebody more beautiful, more exciting, more <i>equipped</i>. I’m no good for you, I hate it, Carol. I really do!” </p><p>“Shhhh,” Carol hushed her, pressing the younger woman’s cheeks with both hands. On her knees on the bathmat, she leaned over and pressed her painted lips hard up against Therese’s bare, watery ones. Carol parted their mouths slightly with her tongue bumping hers, then pulling back, looking at Therese square in the eye.</p><p>“The one I need is you. I do not think of you as a boy. And you are not disgusting, either. You’re my angel. Don’t think less of it. I love you, always...” Carol now pushed parts of Therese’s dripping hair back away from her face.</p><p>Therese shuddered out a breath. She was feeling cold in the water now. Carol playfully splashed her pale kneecap with a cupped hand. Therese was gazing above her towards the sink. </p><p>“I bought some pills at the drugstore. They’re suppose to help you ‘fill up’.”</p><p>Carol glanced around, rising to her feet. She snatched the plastic container and read the label on the bottle. </p><p>“Darling, these are sugar pills! They’re candy!”</p><p>“No, they’re not. The lady at the drugstore said—”</p><p>“That lady’s a complete imbecile who doesn’t know how to do her job!” Carol thundered. She took a minute to unscrew the plastic cap and shake a few tablet pills onto the palm of her hand. Therese watched her popped the pills into her mouth, chewing them, noisily.</p><p>“Mints, are what they are!”</p><p>Therese kept watching her shake out more of the sugar pills and eating them while feeling a bit ridiculous. She had climbed out from the tub, hearing Carol snorted with nervous laughter. Therese grinned along, pulling a pink bath towel off the linen closet shelf.</p>
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